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Social Media is Linked to Teen Drinking Problems

Alcohol appears to be one of social media’s most popular influencers of all.

A new study finds that teens who “like” alcohol-related social media posts tend to have issues with alcohol.

The meta-analysis, published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, looked at data from several studies and more than 9,000 social media users across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.

Researchers focused specifically on the online habits of teens who copped to specific drinking-related problems, such as feeling regretful after a night out or getting injured while imbibing.

They discovered that teens who liked, commented on or viewed alcohol-related social media tended to have more of those negative drinking incidents then teens who didn’t.

"Social-media sites can expose adolescents and young adults to alcohol content and marketing,” lead researcher Brenda Curtis, a professor in University of Pennsylvania’s psychiatry department, says in a statement. “This exposure may increase the likelihood of their drinking.”

That doesn’t mean that the social media posts caused the problematic drinking, she adds — but the correlation between the two activities is significant.